What if it is?

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Nathaniel Sr: You’re missing the point.
David Fisher: There is no point, that’s the point…………isn’t it??

 

Nathaniel Sr: Don’t give me this phony existential bullshit, I expect better from you. The point’s right in front of your face.
David Fisher: Well I’m sorry but I don’t see it.

Nathaniel Sr: You’re not even grateful are ya?
David Fisher: Grateful? For the worst fucking experience of my life?

Nathaniel Sr: You hang onto your pain like it means something, like it’s worth something – well let me tell ya, it’s not worth shit. Let it go. —– Infinite possibilities and all he can do is whine.

David Fisher: Well, what am I supposed to do?
Nathaniel Sr: What do you think? You can do anything, you lucky bastard, you’re alive! …….What’s a little pain compared to that?

David Fisher: It can’t be so simple.
Nathaniel Sr:: [putting his arm around David and pulling him closer]  

What if it is?

 

Quoted from Episode 4:12 Six Feet Under

Image sourced from thechadwasgreat

Devil’s Fool Cake

The most popular form of this saying—“You can’t have your cake and eat it too”— confuses many people because they mistakenly suppose the word “have” means “eat,” as in “Have a piece of cake for dessert.” A more logical version of this saying is “You can’t eat your cake and have it too,” meaning that if you eat your cake you won’t have it any more. The point is that if you eat your cake right now you won’t have it to eat later. “Have” means “possess” in this context, not “eat.”

Reference

Common Errors in English Usage

Fisherman’s Daughter

Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion ~ Salvador Dali, 1930

Speaking of this picture, Dali has given a definition: “The double image (the example of which may be that of the image of the horse alone which is at the same time the image of a woman) can be prolonged, continuing the paranoiac process, the existence of another obsessive idea being then sufficient to make a third image appear (the image of a lion, for example) and so forth, until the concurrence of a number of images, limited only by the degree of the capacity for paranoiac thought.”

The violently erotic character of the group of fellateurs metamorphosed into the forelegs and the head of the horse is veiled by the immutable aspect of the ensemble, obtained with the help of an absence of dense shadows and violent colors, as well as by the geological character of the forms. Dali said of these models:

“They are always boats which seem to be drawn by exhausted fishermen, by fossil fishermen.”

Stone Makes Us Human

A Tectonic Tango

From its beginning the Universe is a psychic
as well as a physical reality.

_{Thomas Berry}

The transformation of stone from planetary crust to becoming a marble statue of the biblical David or a ceramic symbol of Earthly Mother has fascinated me. What to make of consciousness prior to and following that time and space when a human hand first picks up stone to use as a tool. Is it the work of consciousness manifesting first as human, then later as works of art, or could it be something different, whereby a cosmic consciousness manifests as stone, then art, then as human? ‘Stone Makes Us Human’ is my own particular spin on human consciousness.

Once upon a pre-time there was a great and silent mystery out of which came the rhythmic sound of cosmic consciousness, since then we have been dancing to it non stop for eons of space-time, from one geological era to the next, like any creative planet might given the right systemic solar circumstances. At some earlier point in space-time we were just a twinkle in the eye of a cosmic supernova and the next thing we know our larger Galactic-self is giving birth to yet another brand new Solar-self that constantly manifests in whatever new form we can dream up. Hence our insatiable urge to be and desire to express our differentiated unique-Self, for better and for worse in one cosmic form or another, from our larger Galactic-self of black holes and spiralling solar systems all the way down into the deeper layers of our relatively small unique-Self, we manifest cosmic consciousness in a stupendous variety of breathtaking form. [Read the full article: Stone Makes Us Human by Taffy Seaborne at PaGaian Cosmology]

 

Trailer Brakes First! Trailer Brakes First!

 

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Aegina, the daughter of Aesopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Aesopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of the conqueror.

It is said also that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife’s love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of the earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, led him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus [read full essay]

Veni, Vidi, Vidar

Vidar

Image Sourced: Mythologie nordique et germanique

VIDAR – “Woodland ruler” This son of Odin by the female Jotun (giant) Grid was nearly as strong as Thor. He presided over the Murkvid (Nordic version) or Schwarzwald (Teutonic version) and was as tall as the tallest tree. He was armed with a battle- axe and this culturally ingrained image of a woodland  giant with an axe was said to contribute to legends of Paul Bunyan spread by Scandinavian immigrants to the U.S. On the day of Ragnarok Vidar will slay the Fenrir Wolf to avenge the wolf’s devouring of his father Odin. He will do this by planting one foot on its lower jaw and his hands on the upper jaw and snapping the creature’s jawbone. To ensure that Vidar’s boot would be thick enough to not be penetrated by the wolf’s lower teeth when that moment arrives bootmakers discarded small bits of leather before starting each pair of boots they made. Those bits were dedicated to Vidar and were said to go toward thickening that god’s boots. Vidar was one of the gods destined to survive the day of Ragnarok, along with Baldur , Vali and Thor’s sons Magni and Modi.   His hall in Asgard is Vidi.

Text by: Edward Wozniak of Balladeer’s Blog: The Eleven Most Neglected Deities in Teutono-Norse Mythology

Are you ready boots? Start walkin'!

Made in Australia: Medieval-Fightclub

You keep saying you’ve got something for me.
something you call love, but confess.
You’ve been messin’ where you shouldn’t have been a messin’
and now someone else is gettin’ all your best.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin’
and you keep losin’ when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin’ when you oughta be changin’.
Now what’s right is right, but you ain’t been right yet.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep playin’ where you shouldn’t be playin
and you keep thinkin’ that you´ll never get burnt.
Ha!
I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah
and what he know you ain’t HAD time to learn.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

Are you ready boots? Start walkin’!

~ lyrics by Lee Hazlewood (1929-2007)

whose Living Will instructions are hilarious

We Have Phasers

I realize that command does have its fascination.

Climbing Olympus: Apollo

The Apollo 7 Crew ~ L–R: LM Pilot Walter Cunningham; CSM Pilot Donn Eisele; Commander Wally Schirra.

Image Credit: Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, Canberra, Australia

Apollo

Identity: Olympian God of light, healing, music and prophecy

Descriptive arcehtype: Beautiful, golden-haired male archer.

Nature: Extrovert.

Polarity emphasis: Anima

Symbols: Lyre. Bow and arrow. Dolphin. All divinatory aids.

The Greek Myth

Apollo, the Greek god of light, was the son of Leto by Zeus, and the twin brother of Artemis. When Hera heard of her husband’s indiscretion, she was so consumed with rage she decreed that Leto could only give birth at a place where the sun’s rays never penetrated. In order that this command should not  be disobeyed, Poseidon raised the waves like a dome over Ortygia, at the same time anchoring it in the depths of the sea with four pillars. After Apollo’s birth, which took place on the seventh day of the month of Bysios, around the beginning of Spring, the island’s name was changed to Delos, ‘the brilliant’, and the number 7 henceforth made sacred to Apollo.

Apollo 7 (October 11–22, 1968) was the first manned mission in the American Apollo space program, and the first manned US space flight after a cabin fire killed the crew of what was to have been the first manned mission, AS-204 (later renamed Apollo 1), during a launch pad test in 1967. It was a C type mission—an 11-day Earth-orbital mission, the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and the first three-person US space mission.

Morning in Orbit, Apollo 7

Image Found: Oh the Places You’ll Go

Hera did everything she could to delay the birth by keeping Ilythia, goddess of childbirth, out of the way. So for nine days and nine nights Leto suffered atrociously. Finally Iris was sent from Olympus to fetch Ilythia for her and Leto was able to produce first Artemis, and then Apollo.

Even during his childhood Apollo’s exploits were many, and his infant encounter with the serpent Python re-echoes, earlier myths in which the slayers of monsters liberated the oppressed. But, above all else, Apollo was known for his oracle at Delphi, visited by people from all over the civilized world.

Apollo 7 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla., at 11:02:45 a.m., EST, on October 11, 1968 from launch complex 34 on top of a Saturn IB.

Image Credit: NASM

Apollo was the celestial archer whose arrows were infallible; he was god of musicians, the lyre being his special instrument; patron of prophecy, representative of all forms of art and beauty, divine physician, father of Asclepius and beloved brother of Artemis.

Although mainly connected with the arts, Apollo also patronized the sciences, without actually indulging in them himself. His famous retinue consisted of the nine Muses: Clio, muse of history; Euterpe, patroness of the flute; Thalia, patroness of comedy; Melpomene, muse of tragedy; Terpsichore, mistress of lyric poetry and the dance; Erato, muse of erotic poetry; Polyhymnia, originally muse of heroic hymns, but later designated muse of the mimic art; Urania, muse of astronomy, and Calliope, senior of the nine Muses who was honoured as mistress of heroic poetry and eloquence. These no doubt exemplify aspects of the god’s psychological economy, and it is interesting to observe the science of astronomy among what are mainly artistic pursuits, which would hint at the ability of this archetype to search beyond the immediate for its sources of information.

On May 9, 2003, an attempt to launch a spacecraft aimed to investigate an asteroid was attempted by the Japanese at the Kagoshima Space Center. The asteroid was feared and suspected to collide against the earth, and it was the mission of Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft C, or MUSES-C to investigate the possibility, and to bring back samples such as rocks.

Image Credit: Planet Facts

Apollo’s sacred number, 7, was of considerable significance to the Greek scholars of old, notably Pythagoras and Plato. The 7 squared (49) received particular emphasis and, in consequence, the ensuing number 50, was also assumed to possess a mystical quality. Not all the implications of the number 50 were esoteric, however, the famous Pythagorean triangle frequently referred to by Plato is a statement of its mathematical expression.

Sinai Peninsula taken by Apollo 7 astronaut

Apollo is credited with inspiring the famous maxims that were carved in the porch of his temple:

Measure in all things

Know thyself

To commit oneself is to court misfortune.

Worthwhile advice, it would appear, for all who come under this archetypal influence.

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo, New Zealand with Southern Cross in the background.

Photo by Fraser Gunn

Upright Meanings

Artistic and musical skills. Manly beauty. Intuition. Prophecy and all forms of divination. Bonhomie. Warm-heartedness. Natural healing. Charisma. Harmony. Wit. Aestheticism. Patronage of the sciences.

Reversed Meanings

Charlatanism. Ingratiation. Sarchasm. Misuse of the arts in any form. Eccentricity. Narcissism. Insecurity. Affectation.

Further Reading

Climate Change Alarmists Ignore Scientific Methods by Walter Cunningham, Apollo 7 astronaut

~ text from Olympus: An experience in Self-Discovery, Murry Hope, 1991

'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight' ~ On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepherd became the first American in space when he took a 15 minute sub-orbital flight over the Pacific Ocean for 304 miles.

Image Credit: Saturdays Will Never Be the Same

“When reporters asked Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, ‘The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.'”

Hit the Woad, Jack

Image Credit: Make Your Own Woad

Here are two more things you should know the difference between: road and woad. One is a thing that you drive along in a car, or on a bicycle, and the other is a kind of blue body paint that British people used to wear thousands of years ago instead of clothes. Usually it’s quite easy to tell these two apart, but if you find it at all difficult to say your r‘s properly, it can lead to terrible confusion: imagine trying to ride a bicycle on a small patch of blue paint, or having to dig up an entire street just to have something to wear if you fancy spending the evening with some Druids.

Image Credit: River-Styx.net

Druids used to live thousands of yers ago. They used to wear long white robes and had very strong opinions about what a wonderful thing the sun was. Do you know what an opinion is? I expect someone in your family has probably got one, so you could ask them to tell you about it. Asking people about their opinions is a very good way of making friends. Telling them about your own opinions can also work, but not always quite as well.

how Druids got rid of people whose opinions they didn't like

Nowadays most peopole know what a wonderful thing the sun is, so there aren’t many Druids around anymore, but there are still a few just in case it slips our mind from time to time. If you find someone who has a long white robe and talks about the sun a lot, then you might have found a Druid. If he turns out to be about two thousand years old, then that’s a sure sign.

Storyteller Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

In the Words of James Hillman

An analyst sitting in his chair all day long is more aware of the faintest flickers of arousal in the seat of his sexuality than of the massive discomfort in the same seat brought by the chair: its wrongly built back, its heat-retaining fabric, its resistant upholstery and formaldehyde glue. His animal sense has been trained to notice only one set of proprioceptions to the exclusion of the psychic reality of the chair. A cat knows better.